Flames rise from burning cars at the site of a car bomb that targeted Beirut's southern suburb of Haret Hreik on January 2, 2014. A large car bomb killed five people and wounded at least 20 in south Beirut, a health ministry source told AFP.

A blast in Lebanon's capital Beirut killed at least five people Thursday, the latest attack in a spate of violence to hit the country.

Dozens were wounded when the car bomb went off during the evening rush hour in a southern suburb known as a stronghold of the Shia militant group Hezbollah.

Abdallah Azzam Brigades — a Sunni jihadist group that said it was behind the suicide bomb attack on the Iranian embassy in Beirut in November that killed more than 20 — claimed responsibility for the attack.

Thursday's attack came just a day after the head of Abdallah Azzam Brigades, Majid al-Majid, was reportedly arrested.

The blast left the mangled wreckage of cars in the street and blew out store front windows.

"Suddenly, the whole area went bright and we started running away," Ali Oleik, an accountant who works in a nearby office building, told The Associated Press. "I saw two bodies on the street, one of a woman and another of a man on a motorcycle who was totally deformed.